


Miracles

by often_adamanta



Category: I Am Number Four
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-20
Updated: 2011-02-20
Packaged: 2017-10-22 08:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/236189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/often_adamanta/pseuds/often_adamanta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Movie canon only.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Miracles

**Author's Note:**

> Movie canon only.

Six is asleep when he gets out of the shower. They’re sharing a room again, ostensibly to shave money, but John knows it’s because none of them want to be alone.

Sam is sitting on their shared bed, eating cheetos from the vending machine and watching the tv news on mute. “Nothing unusual,” he says, gesturing at the tv with an uneaten cheeto.

“Good,” John replies, fetching a pair of pajamas from his pack, one hand at the towel around his waist.

“What happened to your leg?” Sam asks. John stills, looking down at the scars. “There’s kind of a pattern to them. Did you burn yourself?”

“It’s numbers one through three. Happened when they died.”

“Oh,” Sam says. He glances down at his hand and shoves the cheetos back in the bag, brushing the crumbs off his fingertips. “Sorry.”

John shrugs and retreats into the bathroom to get dressed. He’s glad that the mirror is too fogged to show his reflection.

“Your phone beeped,” Sam says when he comes back out. The tv is off, and his dog is in Sam’s lap. He picks up his phone, but it’s just another text from Sarah asking if he’s still safe. That’s the only message he gets these days. All his anger at Henri, and he’d give almost anything for one more call.

“He’s healing well,” Sam says, breaking the silence again. “As much as I can tell with an alien, shape-shifting beagle, anyway.”

John grins and pets the dog’s head. “He’s fine. Aren’t you, boy?” His alien dog sighs and rolls his head so that John’s fingers are behind his ears.

“We should give him a name. I vote for Snoopy.”

“Snoopy?” John asks. “You did see what he turned into, right?”

“Yeah, it only happened in my car. Snoopy is perfect because he’s a beagle. It goes with John Smith and Jane Doe.”

“Uh huh. Can I turn the lights out?”

Sam flops down on his side of the bed. “I’m not really tired.”

“You’ll regret that when Six wakes us up before dawn.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Alright, turn it off.”

“John?” Sam asks once he’s settle beneath the covers in the dark. “Do you think they’re still after us?”

“Yes,” John and Six say at the same time.

“But, I mean, hopefully we bought some time, right? They’ll have to regroup or beam down more ugly henchmen or whatever.”

“Hopefully,” John says, not willing to douse whatever hope Sam has.

“But probably not,” Six adds.

“Right,” Sam squeaks. “Okay, just wondering.”

“Goodnight, boys,” Six says, and they’re quiet after that. He thinks about Sarah and Henri, and it’s a long time before he falls asleep. Judging from the restless movements beside him, it’s a long night for Sam, too.

\---

“And then John chunks the football back at him and knocks him clear off his feet!” Sam exclaims as they eat lunch the next day. “It was amazing.”

“That was the first time I’d used my legacy” John admits.

“Was it?” Six asks, eyebrows raised.

He nods, and Sam happily continues talking. “In retrospect, I can’t believe I didn’t realize you were an alien sooner. He didn’t tell me till like a week later.”

That appears to startle Six as well. “You told him?”

John shrugs. “It was more like confirming what he already knew.”

“Still. Keeping that a secret is the first lesson.”

John shrugs again. He didn’t have to explain himself.

“What is with you today?” Sam asks. “He’s been broody all day, I swear.”

Six is watching him, something not quite concern in her eyes. “I haven’t heard from Sarah today,” he says.

“Ah,” Sam responds, then stands. “I need more ketchup. Do you want anything else?” He leaves before they can answer.

He watches Sam walk away until he’s lost in the lunchtime crowd. “What?” he asks when he turns back and finds Six still staring at him.

“The first time I used my powers was to save my protector in a car accident,” she says. “I moved us right out of the car. We learn to control these powers, but they’re rooted in our emotions. Like when you started the car after Henri was hurt.” John scowls at the reminder, but Six ignores that. “It’s just strange. Your legacy starting then. That you told him who you are.”

His phone buzzes, and he picks it up quickly, reading over the short text Sarah sent him. When he looks back up, Six is shaking her head. “You really are a moron,” she says, tone amazed, but Sam rejoins them before he can ask her what she means.

\---

“Do you know who number five is?” Sam asks as they drive. Sam talks a lot, not that John minds. It’s become part of what’s normal in his life, Sam talking over the hum of the truck’s engine.

“Not really,” he says. “It’s just a feeling. I can tell we’re getting closer.”

“That’s useful. I wondered how she always seemed to know where we’re going. She never has to stop and look at a map or anything.”

“It’d be more useful to know where the Mogadorians are.” Sam is quiet for a long time after that. “You need me to drive?” John asks eventually.

“What? Oh, no, sorry. I was just thinking about my dad.”

John glances over, but Sam is staring straight ahead out the windshield. “We’re going to find him.”

“If he’s alive. I was pretty convinced he was dead before you showed up. Almost easier to believe that than think he’d leave me with my step-father. But miracles definitely happen around you, so I keep reminding myself to stay hopeful.”

“Miracles, huh?”

“I’m sorry, were we not just talking about a mildly telepathic homing device that detects the other members of your species? I’d call that pretty miraculous.”

“Hadn’t thought of it like that. I was kind of starting to think bad things followed me, in fact.”

“Oh, please. Bad things happen around those cheap Disney villains, not you. You show up and tell me my father was right, and that you’re an actual alien with superpowers and that I should come with you to rescue my father and save the planet. Seriously, that’s a lot on the good side of the spectrum.”

John smiles in spite of himself. His phone beeps and checks it, another concerned text from Sarah.

“Sarah again?” Sam asks as he texts back.

“Yeah,” John says. “She’s just worried.”

“Oh, that’s crazy. It’s not like we’re on a dangerous mission against a powerful alien menace. Or that you make it a habit to find trouble. Speaking of which, do you think this black car is following us? I am very nervous about black cars. I can’t help it, it’s a necessary paranoia when your enemy is a wannabe goth.”

John checks the rear-view mirror, the tinted windows on the black sedan making the bottom drop out of his stomach.

“Speed up,” John orders.

“Alright, but we’re already going above the speed limit thanks to motorcycle girl. If that’s a cop, we’re seriously busted.”

They move forward, Six speeding up as well when they start gaining on her. At the next on ramp, another black car joins the first. One of the windows rolls down and an ugly face with a large gun leans out.

“Definitely not cops,” John yells, hands glowing as he deflects the first shot.

“No shit!” Sam yells back, swerving away from the gunfire.

John slides open the window in the back of the cabin. It’s a tight fit, but he climbs into the back of the cabin and then picks up one of the cars and drops it on the other one, the crunch of metal as they collide and flip over each other ringing loud on the otherwise deserted highway. Sam steers them clear of the wreckage and stops them a few hundred feet down the road.

They both climb out of the truck and catch up to Six, who’s already heading toward the crash site, a gun once again in Sam’s hand. As they get closer, they can see how the cars are twisted together, small fires dotting the road.

“Hopefully they were all killed in the crash,” Six says, looking obscenely cheerful for someone strolling toward carnage. “But let’s make sure.”

They’re close enough to feel the heat when the car on top is thrown toward them. John easily deflects it away, Six and Sam shooting but unable to hit the survivor through the barrier of the remaining car.

Six laughs and disappears, shifting to the other side of the car, firing as she appears. “Got him!” she shouts, a cloud of ash whirling around her.

John grins and turns to Sam, which is when he sees the other survivor crawling from the car he’d thrown aside, aiming directly at them. He’ll hit Sam first, though, and Sam is facing him and has no idea.

He can feel his fear spike and his hands light up, but the Mogadorian fires before he can yell, and he can’t deflect it, doesn’t think he can move Sam in time. The luminescence spreads from his hands to his whole body, all of his skin glowing ever brighter, and then bursting out to form a shield around him and Sam. The shot sizzles harmlessly against the glowing blue shield, Sam spinning around, eyes wide as he sees Six take down the last guy, several more shots landing against the shield.

It’s quiet then, except for the hum of the energy pulsing around them. Six teleports inside the field, inspecting it. “That’s handy,” she admires. “You didn’t tell me you had more than one legacy.”

“I didn’t,” John chokes out.

She frowns. “You’re draining yourself. Stop it, drop the shield.”

“Can’t,” he gasps.

Sam is there, then, putting a hand on his shoulder despite the heat he’s generating. “We’re safe, John. Let it go. It’s alright, you can let go now.”

The shield disappears, and John takes a huge gulp of air, staggering in relief. Sam catches him and lowers him to the ground. John’s shaking and sweating, but the power’s retreating, leaving him chilled and tired.

“Miracles, John, what did I tell you? That was so cool!” Sam is beaming at him. “I’m gonna go get the truck. You don’t look like you’re up to walking just yet.”

“So that’s the second time you’ve discovered a legacy while trying to protect him,” Six observes as Sam walks away.

John looks up at her from his seat on the ground. “Your point?”

“I hear that we don’t love like Humans,” Six says. “Only one person, for life.”

“Yeah,” John responds, too tired to spar with her, even verbally. “And I found that person.”

“I think you have,” she agrees.

“Yeah. Sarah.”

“Is it?” Six asks casually. “So she’s the person you’ve discovered two legacies to save. She’s the person you told about our past and called for help when Henri went missing. She’s the person you couldn’t leave behind.” She shrugs. “I must be wrong then.”

Sam pulls up in the truck before he can respond, jumping out and helping him into the passenger seat. Six watches with raised eyebrows, and then teleports over to her motorcycle, leaving Sam scrambling to catch up with her.

John leans his head against the window and watches the miles slip past them, head too full, images of dinner with Sarah’s family, of letting her find out from the police raid warring with the images of Sam following him into the unknown, a rifle in his hands, even though he probably lost his dad to the same danger.

For the first time since leaving Paradise, John doesn’t know what he’s doing.

\---

That night, Six gets them separate rooms. “They’re adjoining,” she explains. “I don’t want to wait for a shower.”

It’s a load of crap, but Sam doesn’t say anything, so John doesn’t argue.

“Do you think she’s getting sick of me or something?” Sam asks when they’re alone.

“What?” John frowns, momentarily thrown.

“I mean, I know I talk a lot, and I normally don’t care about annoying people, but that’s because they can’t break me in half without breaking a nail.”

“If she had a problem, she’d say so,” John says.

“True,” Sam agrees. “And she didn’t even complain about how you had to save my ass, either, which I was expecting. That shield is still completely awesome, by the way, unless it drains you so bad every time. You look like a zombie.”

“Probably just the first time, if it’s like the other legacy,” John explains.

“Nice. Well, unlike certain alien divas I know, I don’t mind waiting for a shower, so I’ll let the conquering hero go first.”

John just sits there, staring at him. He thinks about the pain when he’d left Sarah behind, and about how he’d never even considered leaving Sam. Never even considered it, because in his mind Sam was already one of them.

“Your phone’s going off,” Sam says, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“I don’t care,” he says, digging it out of his pocket and throwing it away so that it lands on the dresser. “Sit down.”

“Oookay,” Sam says and sits next to him. “What’s going on? Oh shit, are you sick of me? Did Six give us a room so you could tell me that you’re sending me back? I won’t leave you, and you said that we were going to find my father!”

John reaches out and grabs Sam’s wrists, holding them tight. “No,” he states clearly when he has Sam’s attention. “No. I’m not sending you back.”

“Oh.” Sam swallows. “Then what’s with you?”

“I don’t... I don’t know. Hush,” he adds when Sam tries to keep talking. He releases one of Sam’s hands and touches Sam’s shoulder, moving up so that his palm is resting against the pulse beating fast in Sam’s throat. He runs his thumb against Sam’s jawline, feeling a piece of himself slide into place.

He’d wanted Sarah to take away this loneliness, and she’d distracted him from it for a while, but it wasn’t until just this moment, with Sam’s warm skin under his fingers, that he’d felt truly whole.

“What are you doing?” Sam demands, voice shrill. “I thought you mated for life or whatever.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Then I hardly think an illicit gay fling is appropriate!” he snaps, standing and moving away, tugging his wrist out of John’s hand.

“Sorry. Sorry, I should have known you don’t want...”

“Want?” Sam asks when he trails off. “Of course I want you! You’re my goddamn alien Prince Charming, complete with rescue from evil Step-parent. I couldn’t get any more cliche, and you couldn’t get any more straight, so let’s just all keep our hands to ourselves, shall we?”

“What if I do want you?”

“Have you gone crazy? You got the girl, and she’s waiting patiently in Paradise for you while you save the world so that you can have a storybook wedding and ten million half-alien babies.”

“Never really wanted kids that much,” John comments.

Sam gapes at him for a few second and then scowls. “Stop being cruel. I know you love her.”

“I wanted to,” John admits, and Sam closes his eyes. “She was beautiful, and had this perfect life, this perfect family. She was everything I thought I wanted.” He stands, going over Sam. “But you’re who I needed to bring with me, and who I constantly need to protect.”

Sam shakes his head. “Stop it, you have to stop it. You can’t give me this and then take it away.”

John cups his cheek in one hand. “I might have wanted her, but I’m finding that I need you.” Then he leans in and kisses Sam, their mouths touching softly, both of them still so afraid, but every part of John’s body sings.

When he opens his eyes, he realizes that he’s glowing faintly, all of his skin luminescent and warm.

“I don’t believe this is happening,” Sam whispers, face lit with wonder and blue light.

“Miracles, remember?” John strokes a thumb over Sam’s lips. “We’ll figure this one out together.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at livejournal [here](http://often-adamanta.livejournal.com/206810.html).


End file.
